Ali Abdullah Saleh – President of Yemen
Dangling from the end of the Arabian Peninsula is the Republic of Yemen, formed in 1990 by the unification of north and south. In its current form it has only ever had one president, and that president is Field Marshall Ali Abdullah Saleh.
He first came to power in 1978 as president of the Yemen Arab Republic, the wealthier northern part of the present-day republic, following a military coup and the assassination of his predecessor. This year he survived an attempt on his own life, the culmination of protests calling for regime change. In May he promised to resign by the end of the month, but within a week he had changed his mind and now insists he will serve until the end of his current seven year term in 2013. This U-turn means he now joins World Leaders in Their Underpants where he will meet other assassination survivors who have also bared almost-all in the interests of world peace.
